Unravelling the Therapeutic Potential of Antibiotics in Hypoxia in a Breast Cancer MCF-7 Cell Line ModelShow others and affiliations
2023 (English)In: International Journal of Molecular Sciences, ISSN 1661-6596, E-ISSN 1422-0067, Vol. 24, no 14, article id 11540
Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Antibiotics inhibit breast cancer stem cells (CSCs) by suppressing mitochondrial biogenesis. However, the effectiveness of antibiotics in clinical settings is inconsistent. This inconsistency raises the question of whether the tumor microenvironment, particularly hypoxia, plays a role in the response to antibiotics. Therefore, the goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of five commonly used antibiotics for inhibiting CSCs under hypoxia using an MCF-7 cell line model. We assessed the number of CSCs through the mammosphere formation assay and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH)-bright cell count. Additionally, we examined the impact of antibiotics on the mitochondrial stress response and membrane potential. Furthermore, we analyzed the levels of proteins associated with therapeutic resistance. There was no significant difference in the number of CSCs between cells cultured under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. However, hypoxia did affect the rate of CSC inhibition by antibiotics. Specifically, azithromycin was unable to inhibit sphere formation in hypoxia. Erythromycin and doxycycline did not reduce the ratio of ALDH-bright cells, despite decreasing the number of mammospheres. Furthermore, treatment with chloramphenicol, doxycycline, and tetracycline led to the overexpression of the breast cancer resistance protein. Our findings suggest that hypoxia may weaken the inhibitory effects of antibiotics on the breast cancer model.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
MDPI, 2023. Vol. 24, no 14, article id 11540
Keywords [en]
antibiotics, breast cancer, cancer stem cells, hypoxia, mitochondria
National Category
Cancer and Oncology Cell and Molecular Biology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-212713DOI: 10.3390/ijms241411540ISI: 001038566100001PubMedID: 37511298Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85165983164OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-212713DiVA, id: diva2:1787885
2023-08-152023-08-152023-08-15Bibliographically approved